First Man and Omega – A true story narrated by Neil Armstrong

From October 12th onward, “First Man” (Universal Pictures) will be screened in cinemas worldwide. The movie tells the story of the attempts made to bring the first man on the moon. Ryan Gosling plays Neil Armstrong. To be as authentic as possible the Omega “Speedmaster” is part of the film. I will show you which “Speedmaster” and other Omega watches you will see in the film.

Do also discover the two official trailers of "First Man" at the end of my story ...

After the huge success of “La La Land”, who by the way won six Academy Award awards, director and Oscar winner Damien Chazelle and Ryan Gosling are reunited again in “First Man”. The movie tells the story of the first manned moon mission, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the years before the historic Apollo 11 flight. It is a very personal, almost intimate report, narrated by Neil Armstrong, based on the book by James R. Hansen. “First Man” shows the triumph but also the price paid by Neil Armstrong, his family, his colleagues and the entire nation to accomplish this mission, that was one of the most dangerous in human history.

When it comes to exploring space, Omega can look back on an unsurpassed legacy. Respecting this fact, the movie makers placed the brand's legendary chronographs on the wrists of Apollo astronauts. For “daily-life” scenes also other Omega watches were used.

I won’t tell you anything new here, since you all know, as the space program began to take shape in 1964, NASA went in search of a suitable chronographs for manned missions. Several chronographs were tested, they had to undergo tough tests, but only the Omega “Speedmaster” performed as the NASA technicians wanted. On March 1, 1965, the “Speedmaster” was awarded the title “Flight Qualified for All Manned Space Missions”.

From that moment Omega was the only official watch supplier for the NASA Human Space Flight program. The “Speedmaster” was used during Mercury mission, as well as the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz program. The “Speedmaster” also was the official watch on the Russian space station Mir, and do not forget, the “Speedmaster” (the quartz and mechanical version) is still used in space flights today and actually shows the exact time on the International Space Station (ISS).

As part of the story, the Omega “Speedmaster”, when Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, also became the first watch worn on the moon.

For “First Man”, Omega therefore offered “Speedmaster” chronographs and some other models, which all date exactly from this time period.

These are the watches you will see in "First Man":

OMEGA “Speedmaster” ST 105.003

This watch is worn by Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong during the Apollo training at NASA. In real life, it would have been the model that Project “Gemini” astronaut Ed White had worn on June 3, 1965 during the first US spacewalk.

OMEGA “Speedmaster” ST 105.012

This famous Moonwatch is worn by the actors in the historic “Apollo 11” scene as they land on the moon.